Boat-hull.



G. H. CURTISS.

'BOAT H`ULL.

APrucmoN FILED luna 1. |915.

Patented l Apr. 17, 1917.

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UNTTED sTATEs PATENT orrion.

GLENN H. CURTISS,

or HAmMoNDsron'r, Naw Yonx, Assrcnoriro .THE CURTISS AMOTOR COMPANY, OF HAMMONDSPOBT, NEW YORK, A CORPORATION 0F NEW YORK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

BOAT-HULL. l

Patented Aprfl?, 1917.

Original application led September 6, 1912, Serial No. 718,840. Divided and application ledPJune 4, 1913, Serial No. 771,646. Iii/vided and this application led June 7, 1915. Serial No. 32,653.

To all who/m it may concern Be it known that I, GLENN H. CURTISS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of I'Iammondsport, in the county of Steuben and State'yof New York, have invented certain new and 'useful Improvements in Boat-Hulls, of which the following is a specification.

My invention rel. tes to boat hulls. Boat hulls made according to my invention are particularly useful in hydro-aero-machines, and the principal object of the invention is .y to provide a durable and eiiicient boat hull so arranged and constructed as to be capable of readily-supporting a hydro-aero-machine on the water and enabling it to readily Gain flying speed on the water and fly from the water into the air.

The present application is a division of one previously filed by me on J une 4, 1913, Serial Number 771,646, for flying boat, which in turn was a division of an application filedv .by me 'on September 6, 1912, Serial Num-v ber 718,840, for flying boat, and since patented as Patent Number 1,085,575, granted January 27, 1914. A

The inventionconsist's in the novel features hereinafter shown and described and more particularly pointed o ut in the appendedclalms. n

Further objects and advantages of my invention will more fully appear and the invention will be more fully understood fromV the following description .taken in connectionwith the accompanying drawings illustrating a hydro-aero-machine having a boat embodying the preferred form of the invention, ankdvin which- Figure l'iis a side elevation of the entire machine; i A Y Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the boat with the. air planes broken away; Fig. 3 is a plan. of the boat with the supporting planes removed; and

Fig. 4 is a detail cross-section through the boat along line 4-4 of Fig. 3. l

Referring more particularly to the drawings, there is shown a boat 1 of suilicient buoyancy for supporting the entire machine upon the Water and'having'mounted above the same one or more supporting planes 2 and 3 connected by the usual forward and.

rear struts 4', 5 forming van aeroplane. These 'ate their forward and rear edges. `ter of gravity of the machine, without the lifting relation tol the vboat when iioating on the water, and in the preferredform of the invention shown the planes are located with the center of gravity lying intermedi- The cenaviators aboard, is indicated by the dot c, g,

in, preferably at its forward part, the cockpit 8 with the operators seat and other controls more particularly Vdescribed hereinafter, and extends as shown from the front to the rear of the entire machine to serve as the yfuselage therefor. To facilitate the breaking away of the boat from the water when the machine rises in flight, the bottom of the boat is flat as shown in Fig, 4, and is provided with a rearwardly facing step 9 (see Fig. 1) at a point approximately below its center of gravity. TheY bottom of the boat. inclines from this step 9 upwardly toward the front at 10, and also upwardly at 11 toward the rear. The stern 12 of the boat looking from above is preferably pointed as shown in Fig. 3, while the bow 13 of the boat is broadI with a scow-like prow.

The upper deck 15 of the boat also preferably'inclines Afrom theA center downwardly toward the. rear, and at the forward portion the upper deck is preferably stepped to form the cock-pit 8 for the operator.l The hull of the boat is formed of rigid material such as wood or metal to withstand the water' pressure, but above its forward part is provided with 'a hood 16 forming a ,false bow of streamline entry and continuing the streamlines of decking 15, of fragile material such as canvas,.supported on slat ribs 17 of thinwood or other easily yielding material to form the cock-pit 8 iround the operators seat. The cockpit door or deck forms a pontoon Wall. The hood v16 acts as a spray shield audits fragile nature allows ward hydroplaning tension 26 forwardof its pivot to it to collapse and prevent injury to the operator if he should be thrown violently forward due to any accident or sudden stopping of the machine. Behind the operators seat may be carried the main'fuel tank 18 for the engine 6, whichpreferably communicates with an upper auxiliary fuel tank 19 ,carried adjacent said engine through pipe 20 and pump 21 operated by said engine. The boat may also be provided with suitable water-tight compartments (not shown) behind the storage tank for increased buoyancy. Y

It will be observed that the forward part of the boat is provided with a scow bow, namely, an overhanging bow with a fairly broad bottom Surface, and that the bottom of the forward portion of the boat is in the form ofyan effective hydroplaning surface extending from the nose of the scow bow downwardly and rearwardly and thence rearwardly and more horizontally terminating at the rearwardly facing step. This hy.- droplaning surface as shown in the drawings, extends the'full widtlr of the boat between the submerged sides of the boat extending along the length of this surface-to get the maximum hydroplaning width for a given shaped boat, and the bottom ofthe boat extending along the tail portion `is in the form of a reverse hydroplaning surface. By Vreverse hydroplamng surface I mean a surface which is inclined upwardly and rearwardly, ermitting the'stern to be tilted down (and t ereby having just the opposite effect from'a -hydroplaning surface the function of which is to lift) and yet one that 1s not curved or rounded such as would produce suction at the tail to hold the tail of the boat in the water and interfere with the elevation of the tail or breakin of the tail from the Water when the boat is used in a hydro-aero-maehine and planing at speed with a tendency to rock forward substantially about the rear extremity of its forsurface into a more horizontal position o less resistance to head- Way. In the present form of the invention as stated, this reverse hydroplane'surface is dat.4

At the stern 12 of the b oat is a suitable water rudder 22, preferably of rigid matet e vertical air rudder 25 of lighter material, such as acanvascovered frame, for.

steering the machine to the right and left in the air. The air rudder 25 has. an expartially balance the wind pressure thereon.

On the tail of the boat is also mounted a stationary vertical n 27, stationary horizontal fins 28-28, and horizontal rudders 29-29, which are arranged, constructed and controlled as more fully set forth and described in my above-mentioned parent application. The machine is also provided with wing tip pontoons 30-30 and with ailerons 3131, all arranged, constructed and controlled as more fully described in my said parent application. The arrangement, location, construction and operationI of the supportin and .controlling air planes and pontoons form no part of my present invention.

It will be seen from the foregoing description of the present embodiment of my invention that boat hulls embodying the preferred form of my invention have a relativel deep broad forward portion with a relativelybroad cverlianging bow and with an effective hydroplane bottom extending from the nose of the boat downwardly and rearwardly in such manner that if the boat strikes the water at a sharp angle it glides into a more horizontal position, and that the forward hydroplaning bottom ofthe boat terminates in a step at the intermediate portion of the boat preferably in proximity to a vertical line through the centerof gravity of the boat, the hydroplaning bottom being sufficiently broad and effective to 95 to readily attain speed and break from the water when driven by the aerial propeller. In the usual operation of these boats in connection with hydro-aero-machines, the boat when running at low speed drags downwardly at the'tail, and then when the boat attains a high speed, it is adapted to rock forward about the step into a more horizontal position, so that the boat planes along on the surface of the water upon its 'forward hydroplaning surface with the air planes at a lesser angle of incidence and with its tail in a more elevated position,

from which position the boat may be rocked rearwardly again toA increasev the angle of incidence and enable the machine to readily take the air. i u l Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, isz-.- Y

l. In a boat the combination of a relatively deep forward portion having an effective hydroplane bottom beneath the same Aand extending from the bow downwardly and rearwardly and thence' rearwardly point well forwardo to provide a relatively longrtapering tail more horizontally and of substantially the full width of the watersubmerged sides of the boat, a rearwardly facing step formed in the bottom of the boat and terminating said hydroplane bottom, the bottom of the boat at the rear of saidstep inelining upwardly and rearwardly from-the step, sidesy for the boat tapering rearwardly from a the stern of the boat portion, a cock-pit formed 1n the forward portion of the boat, and Va deck inclined downwardly and rearwardly from the cockpit toward the stern.

2. A boat having shallow' hydroplaning frontal portion, a main decking comprising a depressed portion and constituting the top wall of a pontoon, a rearwardly and upwardly projecting tail carrying a rudder, a seat for an operator located on the depressed portion of the decking of said wide frontal portion, and a false a wide comparatively outer or bow decking covering said frontall to give a stream-line inclined tail portion, a transverse' vbottom .edge formed at the juncture of-said frontal portion and said tail portion, a cockpit 1ocated forwardly of said tail portlonand above. the deck 'of said frontal portion, a

raised decking exten rearwardly from said cockpit to overlie said edge, and a means ereetedf upon said frontal portion to, continnethe streamlines of said raised decking forwardly beyondsaid cockpit and with saidV frontal portion give to the hull a streamline entry at the bow.

In testimony whereof, I have. signed my name to this specification.

GLENN ll CURTISS. 

